Offenders and their supporters have the opportunity to participate in the processes responding to the harms they have caused. They also have the opportunity to consider how to address their own harms, including pre-existing harms that may have contributed to their decision to harm others. As with victims, these harms may be grouped into three categories:

1. Personal Harms. These are the material, physical, emotional, psychological, and/or spiritual injuries experienced by offenders.
2. Relational Harms. These are the injuries to the relationships between and surrounding offenders, their communities of care and the surrounding community.
3. Ethical and Moral Harms. These are the harms resulting when norms of individuals and communities, as well as the criminal laws of governments, are violated.

Government and community responses after crime may compound or relieve these injuries. A restorative response relieves the injuries and minimizes the likelihood of new injuries.

The Interests of Offenders

Offenders and their communities of care have an interest in, or right to, receiving the following to the fullest extent possible:

1. Resolution. For offenders and their communities of care, resolution takes place as the personal, relational and ethical/moral harms that offenders have caused and experienced are addressed.  Two major dimensions of resolution are responsibility and participation.
1. Responsibility. Offenders and their communities of care have an interest in fair processes to determine what responsibility they hold for their crimes. Among other things, this means that:
1. Offenders are given the opportunity to take ownership of what they have done.
2. Offenders are given the opportunity to acknowledge the wrongdoing and explain why it was wrong.
3. Offenders are treated as being in control of their past and future actions.
4. Offenders are treated as whole persons, not as being defined by their offence. Other aspects of their lives are acknowledged and respected.
5. Offenders’ communities of care are given the opportunity to condemn the wrongdoing of the offender and say why it is wrong as well as the opportunity to speak to the offender’s positive characteristics and actions in the past (i.e., the offender’s “rightdoings”).
6. Offenders are given the opportunity to make amends to their victims. Other obligations imposed or undertaken by offenders at the conclusion of resolution processes do not prevent offenders from making amends in a timely fashion.
7. Offenders are given the opportunity to decline to participate in seeking an agreement in a cooperative process,
8. Offenders are informed of where they may receive any assistance necessary to complete their sentence or agreement.
9. Although restorative processes do not excuse crime, they do strive to increase understanding of the offender’s motivations and reasons for committing the crime.
10. Offenders are always treated with respect and consideration.
2. Participation. Offenders and their communities of care have the opportunity to participate to the fullest extent possible in the resolution of the crime. Among other things, this means that:
1. Offenders and their communities of care are invited to participate as fully as possible
2. Resolution processes give time and opportunity for offenders to talk about their experience during and after the crime.
3. Resolution processes give time and opportunity for offenders to hear about the victim’s experiences before, during, and after the crime.
4. Resolution processes give time and opportunity for the offender to ask questions and receive answers about the victim’s experience during and after the crime.
5. Offenders are never coerced into participating in cooperative processes; they must give informed consent and express willingness to participate. In adjudicative processes, coercion is used as minimally as necessary and only when the societal need for safety is high.
6. Offenders and their communities of care are given ample and clear information to allow them to make decisions about their options within resolution processes.
7. Responses to crime are structured in order to facilitate and encourage offenders’ participation to the fullest extent possible.
8. To the extent possible (that is, without compromising the community’s standard for safety and accountability), offenders are allowed to participate in deciding the steps involved in how their crime is dealt with.
9. Obstacles to participation are addressed by, for example, giving rides, providing child care, employing a translator, offering legal advice, etc. 
10. Offenders are allowed to participate fully as parties of interest in adjudicative processes.
11. Offenders have the opportunity to appeal adverse rulings in the adjudicative process.
12. Offenders are always treated with respect and consideration.
2. Reintegration. Reintegration for offenders and their communities of care comes when they are able to serve as contributing members of their communities. Offenders and their communities of care have an interest in support and assistance in the aftermath of crime, during the resolution processes, and in carrying out decisions reached in those processes. Among other things, this means that:
1. Services and assistance in reintegration are made available to offenders and their communities of care.
2. Offenders are given information about and referrals to such services and assistance.
3. Offenders are supported in their effort to begin anew when they have completed their sentences or agreements.
4. Offenders and their communities of care are enabled and encouraged to take responsibility for their own recovery and well being.
5. Offenders and their communities of care are allowed to refuse any support offered, so long as that support is not required for making amends, as determined either by cooperative agreement or an adjudicative order.
6. Offenders who are incarcerated are given the opportunity to prepare for productive re-entry on completion of their incarceration through convening a restorative dialogue to address needs, responsibilities and resources. They are incarcerated near enough to their communities of care to allow continued relationship. They are given the opportunities to provide for their families, and if they are not able to do so, their families are offered any necessary assistance and services.
7. Offenders are always treated with respect and consideration.
3. Prevention. Responses to particular crimes are unlikely to have a significant effect on reducing future crime rates.  However, steps may be taken that may increase the safety of offenders and those around them. Offenders and their communities of care have an interest in protection from retaliation, and in assistance in avoiding recidivism. Among other things, this means that:
1. Every effort is made to ensure that offenders and their communities of care are physically and emotionally safe participating in either cooperative or adjudicative processes, and in carrying out any obligations arising from those processes.
2. Every effort is made to accommodate any safety concerns raised by offenders and their communities of care in either cooperative or adjudicative processes.
3. Offenders and their communities of care are protected from retaliatory harm in the aftermath of the crime and while decisions are being made about how to address it.
4. Although restorative processes do not excuse crime, they strive to increase understanding of the offender’s motivations and reasons for committing the crime, and of the steps necessary to reducing those.
5. Offenders are always treated with respect and consideration.

The Responsibilities of Offenders

In addition to their interests, offenders and their communities of care also have responsibilities in a restorative process:

1. Reparation. Offenders have the responsibility to face and take steps to repair the harm caused by their offence.
2. Reform. Offenders have the responsibility to take steps to change behaviour so that they no longer harm others because of their offences.
3. Respect. Offenders have the responsibility to treat others with respect and fairness in the aftermath of the offence.
4. Recognition. Offenders have the responsibility to acknowledge the victims’ experience of the offence and its aftermath.
5. Information. Offenders have the responsibility to explain the choices and actions that resulted in harm, and to answer questions about them as fully and truthfully as possible.
6. Acknowledgement. Offenders have the responsibility to become aware of, to understand, and to recognize the validity of the norms they have violated.
7. Restraint. Offenders and their communities of care have the responsibility to refrain from retaliation or vigilante justice.
8. Compliance. Offenders have the responsibility to complete the agreement and/or sentence to best of their abilities.
9. Non-hindrance. Offenders and their communities of care have the right to refrain from participating in the search for a constructive solution, but they also have the responsibility to not hamper the search by others for such a solution.